


Cubicle

by Jinxter



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, Camaraderie, F/F, Fluff, In-Jokes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2016-05-22
Packaged: 2018-06-10 00:14:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6930205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jinxter/pseuds/Jinxter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Office AU: What happens when storm damage causes chaos and Regina and Emma are forced to share a desk. Also, Emma still wears glasses.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cubicle

If the day had begun like any other, Regina Mills would already be in her office with her favourite coffee, overseeing her assistant, Sebastian, compile the final data for her proposal tomorrow to one of the firm's largest clients. Instead, her parking spot at the office was currently occupied by a tradesperson's utility, and because her ten-year-old son was sitting in the passenger seat next to her, so she couldn't express her frustration in the manner she truly desired. 

As they walked quickly from the far side of the lot, Regina was careful to avoid the puddles and slippery leaves pasted to the asphalt from the storm the night before. As prepared as she was for the inevitable power outage caused by such a large storm, the backup battery in her alarm clock checked and replaced the night before, she had still managed to be late for the first time in over three years, the last time being when Henry fell off the bar stool at the counter of her favourite cafe during breakfast one morning and fractured his wrist. This time, it was because his incompetent school teacher had failed to call her first out of all the parents to inform them that school was closed due to fallen power lines. Rolling the car past the cafe, she had seen it shrouded in darkness and evidently also affected by the town's electricity issues, and so she had also given up on being able to get a decent coffee before work.

Entering the office, she immediately knew something was amiss. Staff milled about, doing much more talking than working, and as she crossed the threshold from the currently empty reception area into the open plan office and turned down the corridor where the managers' offices were, there were cones blocking their path and the end of the hall was in darkness. She stopped her son with a hand on his shoulder and turned back to the main office. An informal meeting of some sort seemed to be dispersing, and she blocked the path of Arielle's wheelchair as she approached to return to her post at the reception desk.

"Ms Mills," the young woman greeted nervously.

"Miss Waters," Regina gestured to the chaotic room, "what on Earth is going on?"

Arielle slowed to a stop and tucked her long red hair behind her ear. "Mr Gold just announced that the storm caused damage to the power supply to your end of the building. The backup generator is undersized so only one server and the main office lights are running, so everyone will have to share desks in the main office until the repairs are completed. Also, Sebastian won't be in--"

She groaned. "And how long is that expected to--" Regina spotted Mr Gold across the office, stopped, and patted her son on the shoulder. "Henry, stay here with Ms Waters for a moment."

The boy sighed and stepped aside to allow his minder to roll past him and around behind her desk as his mother strode across the office, hiking the shoulder strap of her laptop bag up further onto her shoulder.

"Gold," she said as she approached and glared at the young man the Managing Director was speaking with. He scurried off as soon as Gold had finished his instructions and turned to face her.

"Regina, how lovely that you decided to join us today." She scowled at his passive-aggressive tone but tried to restrain herself from antagonising him. "What can I do for you?"

"You could have called me about this," she gestured across the office, "I could have worked from home."

He shook his head, his long, ash-blond hair dusting the collar of his tailored suit. "I'm afraid not. The water damage also took out one of the servers, which also happened to be the one that handles the remote access logins."

Regina rolled her eyes and huffed a breath out through her nose. "Fine, well where will I be sitting today? I have a lot of work to do."

"Do you not already have everything prepared for the Spencer meeting tomorrow? And now you are without your faithful Sebastian as well." He smirked, and pointed to a sheet of paper pinned to a noticeboard on the wall. "The list of desk allocations is there," he said, and his cane clicked on the polished floor as he walked away from her. 

She sighed and walked closer to the list, her eyes scanned down the list of names until she found her own. "Emma Swan?" She spun on her heel, and advanced on Gold. "Why would you sit me with her?" Not that she knew the woman very well, or at all really, she seemed quite aloof at the company Christmas party the year before, though they hadn't talked. Still, her resentment at the situation was building into a dislike of the woman before having spoken a word.

Gold shrugged a shoulder. "Her desk is in a quiet corner, I thought you would appreciate the privacy. However, if you prefer, I believe Mr Hopper is one of the few remaining staff without a desk partner, although you will have to contend with his furry friend."

With a scowl, Regina considered briefly the bespectacled man and his service dog, trained to detect his epileptic fits before they began, but quickly remembered how the encounters with the dog frequently resulted in a wet noseprint in her crotch. She recalled how much the man seemed to talk, and how he always managed to ask such careful questions so as to drag out far more personal information that she ever intended. "No," she said through gritted teeth, "Ms Swan will do."

The blonde woman's smile was warm, but there was also a little fear in her eyes which Regina preened and enjoyed. "Ms Mills, umm, welcome." She pushed the thick, black-rimmed glasses up her nose with her finger and wheeled her chair to the side. I made you some space." The desk drawers had been wheeled out from under the desk return and had been pushed behind them, into the corner of the quiet corner cubicle. A spare chair from somewhere had been pushed up under the return, turning the area into two very small, very cramped desks.

She was lucky that the woman kept her desk clean and tidy. It was minimalist and functional, unlike many of the desks in the area overflowing with paperwork and scattered with stationary. Emma Swan seemed to have only what she needed, and everything seemed to be contained within a stack of three trays and a small stationary holder. There were no personal items anywhere to be seen.

"Miss Swan," Regina greeted coolly, and as she dumped her laptop bag and purse onto the desk and stepped aside, revealing her son standing behind her.

"Oh," Emma's eyes widened, "hey, kid."

"His name is Henry," Regina corrected. "Henry--"

"Hello Emma," he said, warmly, squeezing past his mother and slinging his backpack onto the floor. "It's nice to meet you."

"How did you--" Regina begins, looking at her son with confusion.

He rolls his eyes, "Arielle told me you were going to have to sit with Emma today and you weren't going to be happy."

Emma cringed, though she was somewhat charmed by the blush that snuck onto Regina's face. "Is that right," the older woman murmured under her breath.

"Regina, wait." Emma smiled. "It's okay, I wouldn't be too happy either, downgrading from my own office to this arrangement." She watched the woman's jaw clench and unclench before finally calming and the fire in her eyes fizzled out. Arielle was safe, for the moment, while Regina set up her laptop.

"Hey, Regina, is the kid allowed a drink? I was just going to make myself one..." 

She looked at her son's eyes light up, and she nodded. "Alright." She pinched the spot where her nose met her forehead to try to relieve the dull ache the day had created before it had even truly begun.

Henry slid off the top of the drawers where he had perched himself and trotted after Emma to the lunchroom while she took out her phone and tapped a quick "Where are you?" into it.

The pair returned just as she was logging into the system, having connected up her laptop and tidied her bags away under the desk. Henry had a froth moustache and smile, and Emma had her hands full with her own mug and a Styrofoam cup. "It's from the coffee machine so it's not going to be anywhere near as good as whatever concoction you have in that takeaway cup you bring in every morning, but I thought you might need it." She mistook Regina's curious expression for a glare and began to falter. "Henry said the cafe was closed this morning, and I thought that your headache-- if you have a headache, might be from caffeine withdrawal." 

The cup wobbled slightly in her outstretched hand, and Regina finally took it from her. "Thank you." Emma seemed to exhale with her entire body. Regina took a sip. "It's dreadful," she scrunched up her nose, then the corners of her lips curled up in a slight smile, "but thank you."

Emma grinned widely and pushed her glasses up again. "You're welcome." She squeezed in between the back of Regina's chair and the spot Henry had again claimed for himself and manoeuvred herself into her chair. "So, kid. Are you going to help me with these debt collections today? I didn't realise they were assigning me an assistant as well as a desk buddy."

Henry giggled and kicked his heels against the drawers. "No!" 

"Oh," Emma said with fake dejection, "well what are you going to do then? I think I have a desk pad here somewhere and one of those pens that is four colours in one if you want to draw stuff."

The boy rolled his eyes, just like his mother does at every available opportunity. "I'm ten," he said, dragging out the single syllable, "not four."

"Gee, I hope nobody tells my favourite artists and animators that drawing is only for four-year-olds," Emma teased. "How boring would it be to read books without any pictures?"

"I like books without pictures," Henry protests. "Again, I'm not four. Anyway, it means what you imagine happening is all in your head, because sometimes the pictures don't match what you think it looks like, or people in the pictures don't look like how you imagine they do."

Emma pressed her lips together in thought. "You know, you're right about that. So, you like to read, huh? Do you have a book to read in there?" She pointed to his cast-aside backpack.

"Nah," he shook his head, "only textbooks."

The blonde pulled a face. "Ugh." She caught Regina's glare out the corner of her eye and realised her mistake. "I mean, you seem like a smart kid, I bet you've finished them already, huh?"

Henry shrugged a shoulder, but his cheeks warm with pride at the compliment. "Mostly."

"Don't you have your book about Robin Hood," Regina asked over her shoulder.

"Yeah," Henry sighed heavily.

"What's wrong with it?"

He shrugged again. "It's okay, the knights are pretty cool and stuff, but there's no magic."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "You like magic? Like Harry Potter?"

His face lit up. "Yeah! And, like dragons and elves and fairies and stuff!"

Across the partition, Leroy cleared his throat, and Emma rolled her eyes when they caught Regina's. She smiled softly and Regina glanced at her son, unwilling to quell his excitement but also not wanting to cause a fuss in the office. It was bad enough she'd had to bring him to work this morning only to find she wasn't able to hide him away in her office. 

With a grin, Emma reached into a messenger bag hidden under her desk and pulled out an old dog-eared book. "Well then, kid, I might let you have a little read of this if you can let me and your mom get some work done for a while."

He reached for the book with wide eyes and a widening grin. "Cool!" He leaned back against the wall with his feet up and opened it to the first page.

"What is it," Regina asked quietly. "I usually read books before I give them to him," she explained, although she's not sure why.

"It's called Magician, it's a classic. An orphan boy gets taken in as an apprentice by the town's magician, and--"

"No spoilers," Henry hissed, his eyes not leaving the page.

Emma chuckled. "It's okay, it's pretty family friendly. I read it at his age."

"And you're still reading it? I've heard of slow readers, but..." Regina trailed off. She looked up, surprised when Emma elbowed her lightly and laughed softly.

"It's my favourite."

Regina placed her hands on the desk as she stood. "Alright, Henry, stay with Miss Swan, I'll be back."

"Where are you going?" Emma asked before she could stop herself, winced in anticipation of the other woman's reaction.

Her prediction is correct and Regina stiffened and glared. "I didn't realise that sharing a desk meant we were married and I had to check with you before doing anything, but if you must know, I need some files out of my office."

Emma jumped out of her seat and followed Regina. "I don't think we're allowed down there." She continues to follow Regina as they round the corner into the corridor. "They put cones out and everything."

"Emma, if I wanted your opinion--" She stopped as a worker emerged from a side room and walked toward them, toolbelt jangling over denim short shorts and carrying a wet and half crumbled plasterboard panel under her red-flannel clad arm. "Sorry, ladies," she grinned toothily, "it's not safe to go down there just yet." The head lamp mounted on her hard hat blinds both women temporarily as she looked between them, before she stepped around the cones to carry the panel towards the door. 

Emma trotted past her. "Here, let me get that for you," she said, opening the door.

The woman winked, "Thank you, Emma."

Had she not already felt flushed, she may have blushed, but she had just realised that Regina had called her by her first name for the first time. Letting go of the door, she ran back to the corridor and heard the clack of heels somewhere in the distance. "Regina, wait!" She groaned and with a quick glance to see if anyone other than Arielle was looking (it's okay, she'd have her back) she jogged into the dark hallway.

It took her a little longer than expected to find the other woman's office, the natural light provided only just enough light through frosted windows in each office to see where she was going down this end. She finally found what she was looking for and stepped into the room. 

Regina spun around when she heard footsteps behind her, and her knee collided with the corner of her desk. She doubled over, a ring-binder sliding off the top of the stack of files she held and tumbling loudly to the floor. "Motherfucker," she hissed under her breath.

Emma chuckled, then froze. She quickly made her way to Regina, picked up the binder and ignoring Regina's angry scowl she placed her hand on her lower back and guided the woman around behind her desk with a whispered "Someone's coming!"

She dropped to the floor, sitting with her back against the cupboard, and lifted her hands up to take the files in Regina's hands. Regina paused, then heard the boots in the hallway for herself and dropped them onto Emma as she lowered herself behind her own desk. She rubbed her knee and pulled her skirt down as far as she could, it had ridden up because of her position, and the back panel succumbed to gravity from the top of the side-split and exposed the backs of her thighs.

They held their breath as a flashlight flitted around the room. A gruff voice called out "Hello?" They listened as the man moved to the next office.

"I feel like a teenager again," Emma whispered.

"As do I," Regina agreed.

They listened as the man checked the rest of the offices along the row then walk back past them to wherever he was working before. Emma let out a long breath and giggled. Regina couldn't help but smile. 

Placing the files on the desk and dusting off her black trousers, Emma reached down for Regina's hand, but she was still rubbing the sore spot on her knee which even in the low light Emma could see was beginning to bruise. "Come on, let's get out of here." She cocked her head to the side and pointed at the injury. "Or do you need me to kiss it better first?"

Regina swiped out and smacked the side of Emma's thigh, and refused her offer of help -- both of them. She did allow Emma to carry most of the files but insisted that they would be better to continue around the long way rather than go back the way they came past the man who had heard and tried to find them.

They emerged at the back of the office, and Regina squeaked as a wet nose pressed into her crotch again.

"Pongo!" Emma scolded him but kept her voice low so as to not attract attention. She pushed the dog away with her knee. "Archie must be in the bathroom," Emma said with a glance to his empty desk and noted the dog's position stationed outside the men's room.

"Good," Regina said under her breath, and adjusted the two heavy binders in her arms, but with a quick glance across the room, she could tell Henry wasn't where he was supposed to be. "Oh," she said, and Emma looked from her to where she was looking and saw it too. 

"Crap. You go." She lowered the files in her arms and allowed Regina to place the two binders on top, her chin resting on the top one to try to hold them all in place. Her arm muscles bulged with the weight, Regina's eyes briefly traced the defined lines at their as she gave Emma's bicep a quick, squeeze, appreciative of her help. She was unsure where the sudden camaraderie had come from, but she hated to admit to herself that she didn't loathe it.

She checked the lunch room, the copy room, and had just stepped into the reception area when Emma re-joined her, having dumped the files at their desk. "Is he here?"

"Mom," they heard a cry from down the darkened hallway.

Regina leapt into action. "Henry!"

"Mom," the boy called again, and the workman holding Henry's arm in one hand and a circular saw in the other let him go so he could run to them. 

The man rested his now-free hand on his hip. "It's not safe down here, can't you read the sign? It says 'keep out'!" 

"Yeah, yeah, no need to be an asshole about it," Emma grumbled at him, and he huffed and started to walk towards her.

They all tensed at the sound of a cane on the floor as the boss approached. "Is something the matter here?"

"This kid was sneaking around in the restricted area," the man said, pointing at Henry.

Gold waved his hand, ushering the man away and looking sternly at Regina.

"I'm sorry, Mr Gold, he was looking for me," Regina explained, and Henry wrapped his arms around his mother's waist and gave his best innocent look to the man in the suit.

"In the restricted area?" He raised his eyebrow. "What an unfortunate and costly end that could have resulted in."

Emma stepped up alongside Regina and placed her hand on Henry's shoulder. "It's my fault, I was supposed to be watching him. He must have gotten lost and tried to find Regina's office. It won't happen again, Sir."

Gold finally dragged his eyes away from Regina, but only for a second. "I pay Miss Swan for her debt collection abilities, not for babysitting."

"His school was closed this morning, he is being collected in a few minutes." She jutted her chin forward. "I apologise for the disruption," she gritted out as though the apology physically pained her make.

With a huff and a final lingering look at the trio, Gold turned and departed. 

Regina knelt in front of Henry, wincing as her sore knee touched the hard marble floor. "Henry, what were you doing? I told you to stay where you were. 

"Actually, you told me to stay with Emma," he said with a sly grin.

"Actually, kid," Emma interjected, "you know exactly what your mom meant. Plus, being a smart-ass like that about pedantic details when you know she's right to tell you off is called 'mansplaining' and is a really unattractive quality in a guy."

"Thank you, Miss Swan, but please refrain from using foul language in front of my son," she turned back to her son and squeezed his small arms. "Please don't go anywhere dangerous like that, sweetheart. I can't lose you." She cupped his cheek and pulled him into a hug as she stood.

Emma snorted and grumbled at being scolded for language, given the other woman's tongue just minutes earlier, but smiled and stood back awkwardly, her hands tucked into the back pockets of her pants as the pair hugged.

"Sorry, Ms Mills," Arielle piped up from behind the desk, "I didn't see him follow you down there."

The main door swung open and a short-haired brunette walked in, bundled up against the cold outside. "Oh, Regina," she exclaimed, then saw the blonde. "Emma?"

Emma gasped, then laughed. "Mary-Margaret? What a small world!" She took the woman into her arms for a brief hug.

"You two know each other?" Regina said guardedly, and Henry winced at her tight grip on his shoulder.

Mary-Margaret nodded. "Yes, Emma rented the room in my apartment when she first moved to the city, about, what was it? Five years ago? Right around the time I met David."

"Yeah, and I had to move out because you two were disgustingly in love all over the place all the time." Emma scrunched up her nose, and Regina almost succeeded in restraining a smile. "Are you two still together?"

Mary-Margaret held up her hand to show off a wedding band, small and delicate with an emerald and two diamonds. "Yes, and-- oh! I can't stay. Neal is asleep in the car." She gripped Emma's hands between her own. "We have a son!"

"Congratulations," Emma smiled.

Henry ran off to fetch his backpack and Regina stepped closer to the women. "You left your baby alone in the car?" She glances out the window at the drizzling weather, the front of Mary-Margaret's truck visible poking around from behind the computer technician's van.

"Yes. He's been impossible this week, I think he's teething. I finally got him to sleep on the drive here, I am not going to wake him up. I tried calling, but..."

Emma scuffed her shoe and looked to her partner in crime. "I was away from my phone," Regina said stiffly, and though Mary-Margaret saw the look that passed between the women, she managed to restrain herself from digging for more information. She would drill it out of Henry in on the drive back to her house.

"So, you know Regina?" Emma asks, distracting her.

"Yes," Mary-Margaret nods. "I was Henry's third-grade teacher." She glances at Regina, something more in her expression than Emma can grasp. "I babysat him a few times."

"I'm not a baby," Henry complained, returning with his backpack slung over his shoulder. "Hey Emma, could I please borrow your book?" He held up the paperback, his finger inbetween the pages acting as a bookmark.

Regina noticed the hesitation and reached for the book. "Henry, it's--"

"It's okay, yes," Emma cuts her off and with a hand on Regina's forearm lowers her hand. "You may borrow it. I hope you enjoy it."

His eyes bright and smile wide, he replied "Thanks!" 

"We had better go," Mary-Margaret said, and with a squeeze of Emma's arm, "although we should catch up sometime. I always wondered what happened to you."

Emma smiled. "Yeah, I'd like that."

The woman bustles Henry out with a polite wave to Arielle, who pretends to not be watching all the interactions occurring over the desk.

Regina was already walking away when Emma turned away from the door, and she hurried to catch up.

The rest of the day passed with much less drama, just Emma getting awkward tangled up in the phone cord as she tried to leave while Regina was on a call, and the occasional bump of their chairs together as they tried to work in such close proximity.

At five o'clock, Emma seemed to shrink down in her chair. Regina wondered why until a moment later a gaggle of men passed through the office. She stiffened as they approached. 

"Hey, Swan, we're off to the Rabbit Hole," one of them called out.

The tall, scruffy-bearded Irishman approached them. "Emma, come on. Come for a drink and some darts."

"Really, Graham, I can't tonight."

He was about to ask again when Regina's intense gaze finally registered with him. "Regina, would you like to come?" The murmuring of men behind him quietened. "Have a drink with us?"

"No thank you, Mr Humbert."

He stood casually leaning against the desk partition, pausing a little too long. "Last chance, Emma."

"No thanks," Emma said with a forced smile, "too much work to do."

He grinned, "I'm sure your boss will forgive you."

"Aren't you her immediate superior," Regina asked, placing her pen on her desk and turning slightly to focus her entire attention on him.

He backed away and laughed. "Only during business hours. Well, you ladies know where we'll be if you change your minds!"

Emma let out a long breath, but sat a little straighter in her seat and began typing again. She felt eyes on her and ignored it as long as possible until she finally stopped pretending to work and swivelled her chair. Their knees bumped together and Regina winced. Emma placed her hand atop the wounded joint. "Sorry! Sorry." Regina's fingers brushed over the top of Emma's just as she pulled them away. "Sorry," she said again, much more quietly.

Regina looked around the almost empty office and continued when she saw no one was within earshot. "Does that bother you? The men asking you to go out with them?"

The small, enclosed area felt even more cramped as Emma had nowhere to escape Regina's attention. "No," she laughed, half-heartedly. Regina's dark eyes kept watching her. "They go every Wednesday. It's not really my scene, being 'one of the guys', I mean... I'm not a guy, obviously."

"I went with them once," she explained with a sigh when Regina kept watching her. "Right after I started working here." 

"What happened?"

Emma shrugged. "Nothing, really." She laughed joylessly and pushed her glasses up again. "Well, I kicked their asses at darts, but I'm just not down with hearing them talk about women the way they do, and they don't see me as one of the guys either. That became clear." She sucked in a breath at the way Regina was looking at her. 

A warm hand rested on Emma's forearm. "If you're ever bothered by any of that, anything like that, you know, you can come to me. I'm not your direct report, but it would help you to have a more woman in a more senior position on your side if anything were to arise. We women need to stick together, support each other."

"Thank you," Emma said, her voice unusually thick and husky. She cleared her throat. "It's really nothing, though, and to be honest I'm not going to be here forever, I just really need to save enough money to go to community college." Her eyes widen. "I don't know why I told you that."

Regina didn't seem upset at the reveal, although Emma mentally berated herself for expressing her career plan, or lack thereof with the firm. "What will you study?"

"Social work," Emma replied. She fidgeted a moment as a surprisingly not uncomfortable silence hung around her. "I... I grew up in the foster system. I always wished I had someone actually looking out for me, maybe now I can be that someone for another kid. Actually work hard to try to find them a home."

When she looked up, Regina's eyes were warm and wet. "I think that's wonderful, Emma. A noble mission." Her hand slid down and took Emma's hand in her own, and fingertips brushed palms. Her eyes stayed on Emma's hand. "Henry... Henry is adopted." She glances up at wide green eyes. "I'm glad I could give him a home. I wanted more children before my husband passed away."

Emma squeezed her hand, her left hand sliding over the top, cradling Regina's between them. "He's lucky to have you."

Watery eyes connected, looked away, connected again, looked away.

Emma took a deep breath and exhaled. "So, I lied. I have actually finished my work, but it seems like you still have quite a bit to go. Can I help?"

\--

By the following evening, everyone with their own office was able to move back, except for Mr Bantam in the corner office whose ceiling had fallen down. The majority of staff had cleared out by 5:15 when Emma strolled past the door of Regina's office. "Hey," she said with a nervous grin.

"Hey," Regina returned the smile with one of her own.

"You look happy. I take it the meeting went well?"

Regina slapped the file closed in front of her. "It did, they approved my proposal and we can proceed immediately."

"That's great," Emma exclaimed, now standing a few feet inside the office, hands tucked in her back pockets. "Congratulations."

"Thank you once again for your help," Regina said. "Henry was pleased to have me home much sooner than he would have had you not offered your assistance." She frowned. "Well, he was momentarily happy, then returned to burying his nose in that book you loaned him."

Emma beamed. "He likes it?"

"He loves it," Regina rolled her eyes back for emphasis. "When he stops reading long enough to talk to me, he talks about nothing else."

"Good. Good," Emma said and rocked back on her heels. "Anyway, I'll let you go."

She turned to leave, and Regina stood quickly. "Emma, wait." She stepped around the desk, stopped about six feet from Emma and clasped her hands together. "I was wondering," she said softly, uncertainly, which was quite out of character for her and she hated it. She cleared her throat. "Would you like to go out sometime? Perhaps tomorrow?"

For a long moment, Emma just stared at her, and Regina began to regret asking. "As in, you want to be friends, or as in a date?"

Regina squirmed under Emma's gaze, and although it was intense, it wasn't judgemental. Even if she had misread the situation, well it might be okay anyway. Still, the words didn't want to come.

"Because," Emma began, she sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and chewed on it before releasing it and giving a little laugh, "I am bi so I don't want to turn up with flowers and stuff if you're meaning just as friends. Which is fine, being friends is totally fine. If that's what you meant." She looked up at Regina with a charmingly wrinkled brow.

"Friends are good, I am also fine with friends," Regina slowly stated and licked her lips. "But no, that's not actually what I meant." A smile crept across her face, and Emma's washed with relief as she smiled back at her.

"Tomorrow, then," Emma grinned and Regina's heart swelled at the endearing move as she pushed her glasses up her nose.

"It's a date."


End file.
